ADRA ANGOLA

By José Alves Maciel Jr.

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José Alves Maciel Jr. served as director of ADRA Angola from November 2016 to May 2021

First Published: May 16, 2022

Adventist Development and Relief Agency (ADRA) Angola is a licensed country office of the ADRA International network, operating as a humanitarian non-governmental organization (NGO) agency of the Seventh-day Adventist Church.

Organization of ADRA Angola

The Angolan civil war (1975-2002) devastated the country. Although ADRA Angola could not be officially registered as an NGO agency because of the civil war, a cooperation agreement between the government and ADRA was signed on March 18, 1991.1 Pastor Ronald Kuhn, from Brazil and ADRA Angola’s first director (1991-1993), signed on behalf of ADRA. In that agreement, the government stated the kinds of activities ADRA was authorized to do.

Two months later, on May 11, 1991, the government created Law 14/91 (Law of Associations) and on December 31, 2002, Decree 84/02, which regulated the activities of NGOs in the country. ADRA Angola began to work in accordance with these new government regulations. After the end of the civil war, on January 12, 2003, the Angola Union Mission of Seventh-day Adventists voted to establish the first constituent assembly of ADRA Angola and register ADRA Angola as a humanitarian agency. The constituent assembly comprised seven members. 2 Then the provincial government of Huambo, where the church headquarters were situated, officially registered ADRA Angola under document number 16.630/2003.3 Three months later, ADRA Angola became officially recognized in the country as an NGO, after the publication of its registration in the official gazette of the Republic of Angola. Sometime between May and July 2005, the Angolan Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of Finance jointly issued the definitive and fiscal identification certificate of the agency.4

From its founding, ADRA Angola maintained a strong link with the Seventh-day Adventist Church, as most of its board members were denominational leaders. The founding members were: Teodoro Elias (president of the Angola Union Mission), José Pereira Lemos (union secretary of the union), Adolfo José Golveia (union treasurer), Simão Queta (president of the North Association), Justino Lucas (president of the Central Association), Gregório Henriques (president of the South Association), Nicolau Caielo Martelo (president of the Eastern Association), Domingos Lourenço Suquina (union Education Departmental director), Azevedo Celso de Almeida (union Health Department director), and the following lay members: Benjamim Fausto Paiva, Carlos João Sampaio, Miguel Pereira Cordeiro, Katia Mair Rosinha Reis Cordeiro, Margarida Filipe and Moses Jacob Bongue. ADRA Angola also had honorary members who were not Seventh-day Adventists. Today, ADRA Angola’s headquarters is in Luanda, the country’s capital.

The original mission statement and goals of ADRA Angola were stated as follows:

  • Provide emergency humanitarian assistance in natural and/or man-made disasters, calamities and accidents, including epidemics, fires, floods, earthquakes, hurricanes, droughts, widespread famine, accidents and in cases of armed conflict, through aid in clothing, food, money, accommodation and/or emergency shelters, medical and medical assistance and through all kinds of movable and immovable property;

  • promote and implement actions that guarantee economic and social development, harmony and solidarity among people, education and mental and physical health;

  • to promote and implement the emergence and strengthening of national associations and non-governmental organizations (NGOs), with objectives similar to those of ADRA-I Angola, with a view to facilitating their long-term sustainability.5

Since the end of the civil war in 2002, ADRA Angola has played an important role in the physical and spiritual development of the country and in promoting peace and unity.

ADRA Angola Projects

As ADRA Angola began its activities in Angola to give humanitarian aid during the civil war, its activities were related to reestablishing the basic health care services for the most vulnerable populations. In collaboration with other international organizations,6 ADRA Angola established and maintained a hospital at Cuale Mission between 1995-1998. ADRA Angola distributed food, clothing, medicines, and basic emergency care kits. After the civil war ended, the agency began promoting human development, working in education, health, agriculture, entrepreneurship, and women’s empowerment in several provinces of Angola.

ADRA Angola constructed elementary and high schools in the provinces of Moxico, Malanje and Luanda, and rebuilt the School of Social Work of Maxinde in Malanje, in May 2012. It helped establish several health centers, a family counseling center, and a maternity center in Mussende, Kwanza Sul, in 2013. Thanks to ADRA Angola, an agricultural school was established in Kalandula, and a women’s vocational training school in Luanda, where students are taught cutting and sewing, English language, computing, pastry and cooking, hairdressing, adult literacy, financial education and basic health education.

ADRA Angola’s educational programs have contributed to the training of more than 500 adult literacy teachers.7

One of the biggest acquisitions was the purchase of a piece of land in Talatona, Luanda Sul, in 2001-2002 for the future ADRA offices. The ADRA headquarters and a guest house were built in 2006. The new headquarters of the North-Eastern Angola Union Mission was built on this property in 2010-2011. Today, the property houses also a dental clinic, the Talatona SDA Church with more than 500 members, and a house for the country directors.8

After the departure of Luis Larico in 2015, the ADRA Angola’s office was closed for a year and was reopened by Pastor José Alves in November 2016. Pastor Alves was also instrumental in reopening the School of Professional Training that had been closed for almost 10 years. In 2017, two important operating platforms were instituted in the office management of ADRA Angola: SunPlus Accounting System9 and the Adventist Volunteer Services10.

List of Directors

Ronald Kuhn (1991-1993); Paulo Lopes (1993-1994); Günther Marvim Wallauer (1994-1998); Mario Jorge Lopes de Oliveira (1998-2002); Miguel Pereira Cordeiro (2003-2007); Adolfo José Gouveia (acting) (2008-2009); Luiz Larico (2010-2015); José Alves Maciel Junior (November 2016-May 2021).

Sources

Diário da República, National Press, Series III, Number 15, pages 496-497, February 20, 2004, Luanda.

Johnny Eduardo Pinnock (Vice-Minister for Cooperation), Acordo de Cooperação Entre o Governo da República Popular de Angola e a Adventist Development and Relief Agency. Unpublished manuscript, Luanda, March 18, 1991.

Minutes of the Constituent Assembly of ADRA-I Angola, January 12, 2003, at the headquarters of the Angola Union Mission of Seventh-day Adventists, in the city of Huambo.

Statute of ADRA-I Angola, Article 2nd, Duration and Purpose, November 27, 2003, Huambo, Angola.

Notes

  1. Johnny Eduardo Pinnock (vice-minister for Cooperation), Acordo de Cooperação Entre o Governo da República Popular de Angola e a Adventist Development and Relief Agency, unpublished manuscript, Luanda, March 18, 1991.

  2. Diário da República, National Press, Series III, Number 15, pages 496-497, February 20, 2004, Luanda.

  3. Minutes of the Constituent Assembly of ADRA-I Angola, January 12, 2003, at the headquarters of the Angolan Union of Seventh-day Adventists, in the city of Huambo.

  4. Fiscal Identification Number, Ministry of Finance, 7402007510, 2nd Tax Office BF, Luanda.

  5. Statute of ADRA-I Angola, Article 2nd, Duration and Purpose, November 27, 2003, Huambo, Angola.

  6. PAM, FAO, OCHA, UNICEF, PNUD, ECHO, SIDA, ASDI, WORLD BANK, ADRA INTERNATIONAL, ADRA GERMANY, ADRA ITALY, ADRA SWISS, ADRA PORTUGAL, ADRA CANADA.

  7. Method “Yes, I Can,” implemented by the Government of Angola with the Government of Cuba.

  8. Mario Oliveira, ADRA Angola’s director from 1998 to 2002, email message to Mario Jorge Lopes de Oliveira, August 18, 2017; Jose Pereira Lemos, Angola Union Mission executive secretary at the time of purchase of the property in Talatona, interview by Passmore Hachalinga via WhatsApp, May 16, 2022.

  9. The accounting and control system was adopted by the Adventist Church and ADRA International. Training and implementation in August 2017 with Phidee Tagalog.

  10. Adventist Volunteer Service. ADRA-I Angola became the coordinator of calls for volunteers to work in the country.

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Maciel, José Alves, Jr. "ADRA ANGOLA." Encyclopedia of Seventh-day Adventists. May 16, 2022. Accessed November 08, 2024. https://encyclopedia.adventist.org/article?id=ADE6.

Maciel, José Alves, Jr. "ADRA ANGOLA." Encyclopedia of Seventh-day Adventists. May 16, 2022. Date of access November 08, 2024, https://encyclopedia.adventist.org/article?id=ADE6.

Maciel, José Alves, Jr. (2022, May 16). ADRA ANGOLA. Encyclopedia of Seventh-day Adventists. Retrieved November 08, 2024, https://encyclopedia.adventist.org/article?id=ADE6.